Name that Ware August 2006

The ware for August, 2006 is below. Click on the pictures for a much larger version.

I try hard never to post a ware that people will never have seen by definition–e.g., wares that I make. However, I’m going to make an exception this time, because there is an interesting story behind this one. Perhaps of most interest to readers is that this ware will be open-sourced and soon schematics, layouts, and software development kits will be released. So, I guess the question to readers is: what might this do? What is it for? This will be a lightning competition this time, I think, because in a few days my day-job company that I made these for will allow me to make public the details about this hardware.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Hacking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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27 Responses to “Name that Ware August 2006”

All I can say is that from the SIM card slot it looks to be at least some sort of cellular device, and the fact that the PCB says “only top port is wired” means that there are two ports. Now, these could either be USB or Ethernet, however given their size and the fact that you can have a mini-usb device (preferrable since this appears to be a small device), it probably is an ethernet port. I’m guessing at the least some sort of wireless bridge, disaster situations? could be some sort of environmental monitor given all the IO and the DragonBall processor.

Let’s have a look: Dragonball + RLDRAM + flash gives us some smarts. I presume that it’s RLDRAM; I haven’t been able to find the part number, nor do I know what interfaces the Dragonball has.

The Sipex 5301 hints that the silver ports on the backside are USB. It also looks like there’s an LED directly opposite – activity LED? Also, why spend so much space on USB sockets, and why put them there, where they look relatively inaccessible once a casing is in place?

Why two USB sockets? Maybe production boards will only have one. The placement still seems odd.

Obvious SIM card socket, so we’re probably talking to a mobile phone network. I can’t see any RF section – is it offboard? We could be looking at a SIM card backup device or something, but then why spend so much on a Dragonball and RLDRAM?

AD7873 (?) tells us that we have a touch screen on that 4-pin connector.

P500 might be a screen connector.

I can’t see anything that’s obviously a power connector. I also can’t see where the audio section goes. P401 is still a mystery. Maybe it has the power source, audio ports and RF module. It doesn’t look like the audio devices mount onto the PCB. I’d guess that there’s a daughterboard mounting directly onto P401, but then it would foul the SIM card socket.

There’s also a mysterious 5301 next to the Dragonball, but no obvious USB port for it.

J109 is also a little odd. JTAG or flash programming, perhaps?

The power supply seems very simple. Where are the RLDRAM termination supplies? It *is* RLDRAM, right?

After all of that, my best guess is a GSM or 3G-enabled PDA. Which would be awesome. I just can’t figure out how it fits together mechanically.

I really like the idea behind the Chumby device. And the chumby.com site design is really well-done, too. I definitely want one to play with — it sounds like a good introduction to embedded Linux work, considering how well-documented the toolchain setup process is.

A few years ago, I had the same itch — to solve the Clock Radio Problem once and for all. I ended up designing a Windows-based client for a remote radio server (also homebrew). The Windows client is based on a Mini-ITX board, and runs a “virtual Nixie clock” on a $500 Xenarc TSV-700 touchscreen display. The client talks to the server, and the Internet at large, via WiFi. (See the “Equinox” link on the site in my profile — you can actually download and run the client yourself.)

Basically the same idea as the Chumby, if the Chumby had been designed by Diebold and built by Lockheed-Martin at taxpayer expense. :-P

Unfortunately, my clock-radio project has only made me want more screen real estate on my bedside table, not less. The Xenarc display is about twice the size of the Chumby’s, but it’s still nowhere near big enough for any real Web-surfing fun, and the radio UI is still awfully crowded. It’s very possible that the Chumby’s less-is-more approach is the smarter one. I suck at both UI design *and* website design, so there’s potentially a lot I can learn from what you guys have done. Take my $150 — please!

I don’t usually write on blogs but had to on yours. You have a very easy to read writing style. A lot of people don’t have that touch, they just drone on and on in the most boring way. But not you – thanks! Thanks again!